Bacardí Legacy is "life changing" for Eric van Beek

Dutch bartender Eric van Beek of bar TwentySeven in Amsterdam believes winning the Bacardí Legacy Cocktail Competition last month will be “life changing”.

The 27-year-old had only been bartending for two and a half years before winning the competition in Mexico City with his Carino cocktail, consisting of Bacardí Reserva Ocho, yellow chartreuse, Greek yoghurt, vanilla syrup and lemon juice.

“I already know it’s going to be life changing. I’m still in the process of planning the coming year with the Bacardí team and it’s super exciting,” said van Beek.

“Even after one month people are recognising me which is really weird. People who work within the industry are visiting my bar and we’re busier than we were before I went to Mexico.”

Van Beek has already travelled around the world with Bacardí from Puerto Rico to Abu Dhabi and his Carino cocktail now has 53 different listings globally.

“It’s really cool being invited for guest bar shifts and there are legends in the industry who now know who I am, it’s going to be a great year,” he added.

 “I would definitely recommend people to enter Legacy and if I had to I would absolutely go through the effort all over again.”